Jobs' innovations changed baseball for better

Jobs' innovations changed baseball for better

Apple co-founder worked hand in hand with MLBAM

By Mark Newman / MLB.com |

Steve Jobs died at the age of 56, Apple announced on Wednesday. The visionary who co-founded Apple helped shape our modern way of life through personal computing and technology, influencing a lifestyle that touched so many people. He made it easier and more fun to watch a baseball game, a microcosm of his impact on entertainment in general.

"We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today," read a statement by Apple's board of directors. "Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve. His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts."

Padres president Tom Garfinkel called him "the Edison of our age."

Steve Jobs, the co-founder, chairman and former chief executive of Apple, Inc., passed away on Wednesday. (AP)

Look around Major League Baseball today and the evidence of Jobs' historic impact is clear. Many fans today launch an application on their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch devices, allowing them to watch or listen to live games from just about anywhere. It would have been such a far-flung fantasy a couple of decades ago. And if it is not on an Apple device, then it is on one created because of it. It's what many players use, it's what fans use.

Major League Baseball Advanced Media has developed its technology over recent years in close conjunction with Apple, sending mobile developers to the company's Silicon Valley headquarters to help bring Jobs' vision to fruition within a world of 30 baseball team fan bases. We vividly recall the scene in January of 2010 at the launch of the iPad, when Jobs hailed his newest product as "way better than a laptop" and had MLBAM display the live-game capabilities on stage. It was always a cooperative means to a better experience.

Apple did not specify the cause of Jobs' death. He had battled pancreatic cancer and several years ago received a liver transplant. In August, he stepped down as CEO, handing the reins to Tim Cook. Not surprisingly, the world reacted immediately to the news of Jobs' passing, and that included tweet after tweet within the national pastime.

From Dexter Fowler of the Rockies: "R.I.P. Steve Jobs you will definitely be remembered for your advances in technology!" Reds outfielder Yonder Alonso added to the world trending topic with "R.I.P. Steve Jobs." Catcher Lucas May tweeted: "Changed the world...to say the least." Phil Hughes of the Yankees retweeted Weird Al Yankovic's tweet: "Thanks for improving life as we know it."

Born Feb. 24, 1955, and then adopted, Jobs grew up in Cupertino, Calif. -- which would become home to Apple's headquarters -- and showed an early interest in electronics. As a teenager, he phoned William Hewlett, president of Hewlett-Packard, to request parts for a school project. He got them, along with an offer of a summer job at HP.

Jobs dropped out of Oregon's Reed College after one semester, although he returned to audit a class in calligraphy, which he says influenced Apple's graceful, minimalist aesthetic. He quit one of his first jobs, designing video games for Atari, to backpack across India. Those experiences, Jobs said later, shaped his creative vision.

"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future," he told Stanford University graduates during a commencement speech in 2005. "You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."